Pascal Battus

Tip! *2025 stock. 300 copies limited edition* "When I was in Paris 2013 - 2015, the second apartment in which I stayed was on Rue Adolphe Mille, which more or less ran along the western border of the Parc de la Villette in the 19th Arrondissement. On the opposite side of the park, the new Philharmonie de Paris, designed by Jean Nouvel, was nearing its long-delayed completion. Eric La Casa, a master of in situ field recording/performance, lived just up the street as well and, in 2013, ventured in…

Akousis Records is pride to announce the out of the new solo realise by French musician Pascal Battus: Cymbale Ouverte. Pascal Battus plays an self-invented instrument : the rotating surfaces inspired by the hurdy- gurdy principle are driven by an electric motor. By this way, Pascal Battus uses many material to rub, to hit, to play with the pitches, timbres and produced sounds. With Cymbale Ouverte, the musician has decided this time to use only cymbals to drive different kind of resonances. Fou…

Dovetailing and combining the rich harmonics of Michel Doneda's soprano and sopranino saxophone with Pascal Battus' rotating surfaces--mechanisms from small consumer electronics and their like put in motion and in contact with resonators and vibrators--this French improvising duo create fascinatingly shifting, unusual textures and sonic environments.

An extraordinary document of an experiment in which three improvisers - Pascal Battus (rotating surfaces and found objects), Bertrand Gauguet (saxophones) and Eric La Casa (microphones) - played at a working building site in Paris, adapting their playing to integrate the sounds and gestures of the workers at the site.

Musical expression comes in many forms and shapes, something that also applies to what we refer to as “experimental” music. That particular music receives its name usually because of its exploration of unusual shapes, colours, structures, etc, but sometimes it ends up even surrendering itself to entirely new languages and the possibilities those bring with them. It’s a taste of the latter that we find in this particular recording by the American Michael Johnsen, and Frenchman Pascal Battu…